PwC Capital Markets Flash

Volume 5, Issue 15 | January 29, 2013

Overall, there were 2,811 announced M&A transactions worth $210 billion in 2012 according to PwC’s latest deals report: 2012 Year in Review: Q4 Deals Quarterly and 2013 Outlook. The resource industries and the real estate sector continued to dominate in 2012:

The energy sector regained the title of the top targeted industry in Canadian M&A – accounting for 29% of published transaction values;

The real estate sector represented 15% of target activity in Canadian M&A; and

Rounding out a top three finish is the metals & mining sector, representing 11% by value of Canadian M&A target activity.

Looking forward, PwC’s Deals team sees good prospects for sustained growth in the Canadian M&A market thanks to low interest rates, a surplus of cash both on corporate balance sheets and in the hands of pension and private equity funds and plenty of liquidity in the debt market. Other perspectives in PwC’s 2012 Year in Review: Q4 Deals quarterly and 2013 Outlook include:

The return of the mega deal – More mega deals were announced in 2012 than at any other time in the past five years;

Canadian investors at home and abroad – Domestic M&A accounted for 40% by value of activity in 2012, with the top three industries – energy, real estate and metals & mining – representing more than 57% by dollar value of all domestic transactions last year; and

Inbound M&A – Foreign acquisitions of Canadian targets accounted for 27% of total M&A activity.